An analyst warned Wednesday that President Donald Trump's approach to addressing affordability and understanding Americans' economic concerns would backfire on Republicans in the midterms.
Tara Setmayer, co-founder and chief executive officer of the Seneca Project, told MS NOW's Chris Jansing that although Trump has insisted that "economic growth is exploding" under his leadership during his speech Tuesday in Clive, Iowa, data has shown otherwise.
"As a 30-year political communicator, I have never seen anyone ever be advised that they should be insulting their voters," Setmayer said. "I guess Trump is in the 'I'm going to insult everyone' era of his presidency. That doesn't go over. And when he jets in and out of these places, places that are now competitive. Iowa is a competitive space, that's why he's there."
Trump might not realize how competitive Iowa was expected to be for Republicans in the upcoming elections in November — and could be underestimating the tough battle ahead, she added.
"The Iowa members of Congress, the senators there, they have to face a constituency that has a record numbers of farmers filing for bankruptcy. They are suffering at the hands of Trump's irresponsible tariff policy and for him to tell the good people of Iowa that they're idiots because they don't believe his lies on the economy, I just think is not a winning strategy," Setmayer said.
It's also put GOP lawmakers in a tough position, she explained.
"It's going to be very difficult for the Republican members of Congress to take that approach and defend what Donald Trump is saying when he's basically insulting average, every day people who are experiencing something that he would never know anything about. He's a billionaire. And has absolutely no idea what average, everyday people go through when it comes to economic hardships," Setmayer said.
